Sherlock's Birthday Present
by Lellie-Bellie
Summary: John decides to test Sherlock's intellegence


John had bought Sherlock the DS as a joke Christmas present last year however Sherlock had seemed truly grateful for the distraction during the time between cases, and Mrs Hudson was pleased there were no more holes being shot in her wall. So the night before Sherlock's birthday saw John impatiently waiting in the queue at Argos picking up a new game.  
When John's number was finally called the lady who served him tried to strike up polite conversation

'Is this game for you sir?'

John looked at the woman like she'd just grown another head; did he look like the kind of person who played video games?

'Erm no it's a birthday gift

'Awh I'm sure your son will love it, how old is he?'

'My friend will be 35 tomorrow' John answered awkwardly.

'Oh well I'm sure your friend will enjoy it all the same, have a good day sir'.  
'You too' John picked up his carrier bag and half ran to the door.

Sherlock was lying on the sofa staring up at the ceiling with his palms together under his chin. His thinking pose. John wondered if Sherlock had even noticed his presence in the room so decided to run his own little experiment. He left the carrier bag on the table next to Sherlock and climbed up the stairs to his room, when he returned with wrapping paper sellotape and scissors in his hand nothing had changed, He watched Sherlock for a few seconds making sure the man was blinking and breathing before carrying on with his task.

He pulled out the Professor Layton game from the carrier bag and placed in the square of blue wrapping paper he had cut. It was as he was about the stick down the two folds of paper that John noticed the age 7 rating on the game which made him chuckle , Sherlock was bound to feel insulted , but john was sure he would humour his gift anyway at atleast play it once.

John placed his present on Sherlock's chair in front of the fire then reclimbed the stairs to his bedroom to collect the presents and cards from Lestrade, Molly and Mycroft that he'd been given earlier in the week. As he finished arranging the presents on the char he noticed that Sherlock had not moved a millimetre in the time he'd been home. He decided to carry on his experiment a little longer, John made his way to the kitchen and opened a cupboard door, he took out the pack of balloons and banners he'd 'hidden' in there and got to work blowing up the balloons and tying them to the silver ribbon he'd also bought. The balloons were tied around Sherlock's chair and the banners were placed on the windows and on the chimney breast.

It had taken John longer than he expected to get all the preparations ready for Sherlock's birthday so with a quick glance around the room to make sure everything was in order he flicked off the lights and went to bed, Leaving Sherlock on the couch still.

John was woken suddenly by the sound of shouting , he tried to roll over and go back to sleep until another shout made it clear it was Sherlock shouting his name in panic. John shot out of bed and down the stairs to the lounge where he heard the shouting coming from completely abandoning his slippers which were placed by his bed and burst through the door

'What is it Sherlock, What's wrong?' John huffed as he tried to catch his breath

'I think somebody broke into the flat and decorated'

John laughed at the concerned look on Sherlock's face 'Why would anybody break into our flat to decorate Sherlock?'

'These decorations' Sherlock moved his arm in a sweeping motion around the room to point at the decorations John had put up the previous night 'were not here when I returned from the yard last night and were here when I woke up, therefore the only explanation is that somebody broke in while we slept and decorated'

John sighed and looked up at Sherlock 'The other explanation being that while you were in your mind palace on the couch last night your flatmate decorated the room before going to bed'. Sherlock sheepishly looked down at John 'oh well I err . . Thank You John'.

'You're welcome Sherlock, Happy Birthday'.

John shuffled into the kitchen to make tea whilst Sherlock knelt on the floor and started opening his presents. He sat himself down in his chair opposite Sherlock and watched him deduce all of his gifts before opening them whilst sipping on his piping hot tea.

'. . . Judging by the thickness and width of the wrapping I'd say socks or a scarf but as Graham keeps pointing out that my blue scarf is getting old it's obvious he bought me a new scarf and sure enough as Sherlock peeled the sellotape a dark green cashmere scarf revealed itself, John thought it was a shame that such a beautiful item would never see the light of day and would instead be shoved in the back of the wardrobe with the rest of the scarves people had bought for Sherlock. Next Sherlock picked out the present molly had given him. Sherlock studied the wrapping from many angles as John waited eagerly for the words to come tumbling out of his mouth , but after a long silence John was surprised , could it really be Molly Hooper to be the one to cause Sherlock's loss of words.

'Come on the Sherlock tell us what it is' John prompted

'I um. . I'm afraid I can't I don't know what it is' Sherlock looked genuinely upset by this remark so instead of pondering his emotions Sherlock tore into the wrapping paper with fury a gasp left Sherlock's mouth as a gold cigarette tin fell into his palm. He turned it over in his palm and spotted his initials inscribed into the cold metal. Nobody really liked Sherlock's smoking habit but they all agreed it was better than cocaine so allowed him to continue. Sherlock turned it over in his palm a few more times before setting it down on top of his scarf and picking up the box which contained Mycroft's gift. 'Gloves' was the only word to leave Sherlock's mouth before he put the unopened box on the floor and carried on to open his gift from John. 'it's obvious you have bought me a game for my console judging by the size and weight of the box , but which game could it be ? , I already have all 5 Legend of Zelda games'

'Sherlock just open the present will you'

Sherlock took Johns warning and opened the paper

'Professor Layton? , what is this?' Sherlock's eyes roamed over the writing on the back of the box explaining the overview of the game 'Oh thank you John , this game seems intriguing , I should have it completed by sun down' and John did not doubt him.

Throughout the day people dropped by the flat to wish Sherlock a Happy Birthday over tea and cake baked by Mrs Hudson, they never got a word out of Sherlock as he was far too engrossed in his new game.

2 days later as John was dishing out dinner he heard a frustrated groan from the lounge

'What's wrong Sherlock?'

'I cannot solve this puzzle , there must be a fault with the game'

'Tell me the Puzzle '

'Don't be sill John , if I can't do it , you won't be able to do it'

'Sherlock 7 year olds can do that puzzle , just tell me it'

'A man has a fox, a rabbit and a cabbage, and he wants to get across the river but his boat can only carry two items at a time. The man being one item and a fox, rabbit or cabbage being the second. If left along the fox will kill the rabbit, and the rabbit will eat the cabbage. How can the man get all three items across the river without losing any of them?'

'Sherlock that is easy take the rabbit and leave him on the other side because the fox won't eat the cabbage, then bring the fox over to the other side and pick up the rabbit .bring the rabbit back and pick up the cabbage .Drop the cabbage off with the fox (fox won't eat the cabbage) and there's nothing with the rabbit and then finally go back and pick up the rabbit and bring him across.' John recited it as if he was asked his own name.

After a couple of seconds of the stylus clicking on the screen Sherlock exclaimed 'Well what do you know, maybe you aren't as much of an idiot as I thought you were'

John took that as a compliment.

A/N- I was rewatching Fargo and this popped into my head I hope you enjoyed it


End file.
